Friday night, the music beamed like a beacon from the Levee, calling people from the quad and townhouses as it echoed through the air. In the dim lights, the band Seeking Homer played in front of a pair of old wooden skies hanging over the wall, while the crowd moved freely to the music. After the performance, the band sat down to tackle the most feared interview this side of the beach: 20 Questions.
1. Passing over the obvious Simpsons jokes that I’ve been thinking of all week, where did you get your name?
Michael: I’ll tell you where the name came from. It’s the essence of travel. It’s a state that doesn’t physically exist. I hope we never find it, because when we do, it’s over.
Tom: The pursuit is the fun.
2. What are the positives of not being distributed on a major label?
T: We know exactly where every dollar goes. We have complete control of everything.
James: Record labels don’t have to release our music if they don’t like it.
T: We’re not in debt to anyone but ourselves. I’m a hell of a lot happier too.
3. I read on your website that you need shirts. Where can people send you the shirts off their back?
T: You really want to know?
Yeah.
T: OK -923 Garfield Avenue, Palmyra, NJ 08065. We really do get them and use them. We wear them when we go to their town. But we need them. We lose them and some get ruined.
4. Other than getting people to give up their shirts, what is your favorite part of touring the country?
M: Ooh – a tough one! Lack of sleeping.
Dave: Driving 85 miles per hour on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, blasting Pink Floyd at four in the morning.
F: Seeing places that you’d have no other reason to see, like Iowa, unless you were a truck driver.
D: Eating a Citgo corn dog.
5. (Submitted by someone walking by the table during an interview) Do you guys have a girlfriend?
J: We’re all single.
M: We’re tri-sexual.
D: I think that’s bi-sexual.
6. Considering the number of dates you guys do (your website lists a lot of days where both day and night shows are scheduled), does touring ever get tiring?
T: No, I don’t think we really get tired. We get hurt and knocked up…
(laughter)
T: Not like that! I got mono on the road and stuff like that. I cut my finger twice and that’s not good for a guitar player.
7. Who are your musical influences?
M: It comes from bands we tour with, and I could give you 1000 names. But the bands we tour with we find a connection with on the road. It’s a painstaking process on tour. The music comes from the spirit we have as a band.
8. What inspires you when writing music?
M: Growing up in New York City.
J: Life.
(laughs)
J: It’s the obvious answer.
T: I’ve never lived anywhere more than four years. I’m always on the go. I form new relationships all the time.
9. What is your favorite part of the recording process?
T: My favorite part is when we listen to an album as a whole for the first time. People will go in and work for four or five hours. You’re watching a DVD and don’t know what’s going on. But then at the end of the day it’s brought together and you hear it.
10. You’ve stopped by Fairfield University before. What brings you back?
M: The school.
J: We have a great time.
T: As long as people keep coming – playing to the public, and people are actually here on a Friday night.
11. In terms of your latest album, Paradise, did you approach it differently than your previous albums?
D: We recorded in a bigger studio.
M: We sang about different things too.
12. How do you feel about MP3s and the growing number of people downloading music instead of buying it?
J: We think it’s great. There’s a lot out there you can’t buy. It can be used to reach more people because our music is not in stores. We’d rather then come out to see us live, and then they may buy a CD.
13. Have you found the internet to be a good publicity tool?
T: I don’t know how bands did it before. I don’t know what it was like. We’ve used it as a tool since day one.
D: The best part is it’s free.
14. What’s the most outrageous thing a fan’s done at a show?
D: A kid passed out behind Tom’s guitar amp standing up.
T: He passed out and someone dumped beer on his head.
M: Some guy pulled out his testicles and did tricks. Can I say testicle?
I got penis through the censor so I’m sure it’s OK. At least you didn’t use any slang.
M: Cool. Another time a guy knocked himself out with a frying pan.
T: One girl went to the ATM and pulled out $100 for one of Dave’s sweaty shirts. She was doing the deal with me so I was going to pocket the money. There’s four good stories for you.
15. Let’s play the pyramid: Leela, Fry, Bender…
T: James knows this stuff.
J: Oh! It’s that show. What’s it called – Futurama?
Correct.Matt Groening created it, and he also created the Simpsons (see question one.) DING!
16. Better president; George W. Bush or Martin Sheen?
T: We’ve only seen that show once. But I think Bush is doing a pretty damn good job… and without a script.
17. Which artist should just stop recording music?
D: We’ve got a ton of them.
T: Creed is on my list.
D: They Might be Giants.
M: Celine Dion.
T: She did that song though.
J: Rod Stewart.
18. Better group: AC/DC or The Powerpuff Girls?
T: AC/DC, right?
There’s really no right answer here, although one would be funnier than the other.
J: Powerpuff Girls – they kind of rock. AC/DC kind of rocks too though.
19. Cell phones: useful tools, or annoying pieces of garbage that ring at more annoying times than tele-marketers calling at dinner?
D: I think they’re useful – they’re cheaper than phone cards.
T: Only five people know my number, so I don’t have a problem.
J: I don’t have one.
T: And [James] needs one the most.
20. Any last words?
D: Pass the vibe – pass the Seeking Homer vibe.
T: People should really try hard to do some listening the next couple of years. Bring live music back to the way it was 15 or 20 years ago.
J: Kill your TV.
D: Defossilize.
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